Nature-based solutions

Cities around the world are undergoing significant transformations and are facing substantial challenges in the form of urban densification and extreme weather conditions, due to climate change and the ongoing urbanisation. In Europe, more than 70% of the population is already living in urban areas. Nature-based solutions (NBS) are becoming an effective tool for such eco urban regeneration, but their social impact is being questioned as a form of green gentrification in certain communities. The European Commission defines NBS as ‘solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience’.

General introduction to approach

This cluster of approaches examines how cities are attempting to become greener or more sustainable using NBS, barriers preventing wider implementation of NBS and means of overcoming them. Some approaches also deal with, perhaps, unforseen issues of social equity arising from NBS implementation. Examples of NBS inspired and supported by nature are numerous, including green roofs and city parks that limit heat stress, city lagoons that store water and permeable surfaces, vegetation and rain gardens to intercept storm water. NBS can deliver multiple benefits such as multi-functionality green spaces can support adaptation to climate change while also being used for sports and recreations, serve as a place for local distinctiveness, increase the aesthetic appeal of a neighborhood, and provide a sense of community. NATURVATION (Nature Based Urban Innovation, 2016-2020) outlined that despite their significant potential, the use of NBS solutions remained marginal, fragmented, and highly uneven within and between cities in 2016. The CLEVER Cities (2018-2023) project is identifying ten key barriers to NBS implementation: limited knowledge base for nature-based solutions; inadequate governance structures ; balancing the multiple goals NBS can deliver; effective citizen involvement; insufficient social inclusion and social acceptance; lack of political and financial support; monitoring challenges; upscaling difficulties. GrowGreen seeks to embed NBS in long term city planning, development and management, so that accessible green and blue spaces are a permanent feature of all urban areas. Many approaches have identified need for local communities’ active participation in the creation of NBS, whom URBAN GreenUP (New Strategy for Re-Naturing Cities through NBS, 2017-2022) identify as the core of their cities’ green regeneration. Nature4Cities (NBS for re-naturing cities: knowledge diffusion and decision support platform through new collaborative models, 2016 - 2020) is creating a comprehensive NBS reference Platform to empower urban planning decision making based around new governance and collaborative models driven by citizens, researchers, policy makers, and industry leaders. They distinguish 3 levels for NBS activity: 1) building or plot level 2) at neighborhood or district level 3) NBS, at city level and beyond. One project offering a justice analysis of the impact of NBS and related City Greening initiatives is GREENLULUS (Green Locally Unwanted Land Uses, 2016 – 2021) which explores attempts to measure if greener cities are less racially and socially equitable and whether greening projects tend to increase environmental inequalities, by a thorough examination of 40 cities in the US and Europe.

Summary of relevant approaches

The GREENLULUS approach is most aligned to the chief line of investigation of the UrbanA project. GREENLULUS analyzes the conditions under which urban greening projects in distressed neighborhoods redistribute access of environmental amenities to historically marginalized groups. The study takes place in 40 cities in Europe, the United States, and Canada. The research assesses the extent to which urban greening projects such as parks, greenways or ecological corridors encourage and/or accelerate gentrification, given such projects have been recently shown to be factors contributing to residents’ exclusion and marginalization. Through an innovative FUG (Fair Urban Greening) index, it analyzed which cities most equitably distribute the benefits of greening. They also provide new tools for municipal decision-makers to conduct an environmental equity performance analysis of new or restored green amenities. Lastly, their research included an in-depth analysis of cases of community mobilization and contestation, and of the policies and measures that municipalities develop to address exclusion in “greening” neighborhoods. Their hypothesis is that the social and racial inequities present in sustainability projects make green amenities Locally Unwanted Land Uses (LULUs) for poor residents and people of color. The project´s Objectives, Expected Research Outcomes and Initial Outputs are the following:

• Objectives

- To assess the social and racial impact of new green amenities in distressed neighborhoods and develop a novel index measuring the inequity of distribution of green amenities in and across cities

- To identify and analyze the new development projects proposed, approved, and implemented during or upon the completion of greening projects

- To analyze the community responses developed in response to environmental amenities To analyze the plans and policies put in place during or upon the completion of greening projects to address exclusion from the creation of environmental amenities

• Expected Research Outcomes

-The development of a new method (i.e., an index called the Fair Urban Greening index) in order to assess the racial and social impact of urban greening projects and compare cities’ performance over time and with each other A paradigm shift in the field of environmental justice to be proposed after measuring longitudinally the racial and social impacts of urban greening processes. This paradigm will reconceive restored or new green amenities as Locally Unwanted Land Uses for historically marginalized groups in the city.

- A novel theory bringing together environmental justice and gentrification research, presenting a) the magnitude and scope of environmental inequities as triggered by sustainability planning, b) the types and forms of activism produced by urban greening, and c) the policies and measures that can best address gentrification threats in the context of urban greening.

- The creation of a public-use data repository with primary information collected across 40 cities so that researchers can craft new research questions and test hypotheses beyond the ones proposed here. It will encourage new research on the social and racial dimensions of sustainability planning.

• Initial Outputs

The first stage of the GREENLULUS study examining the relationship between urban greening and social equity resulted in the 2018 publication of “GREEN TRAJECTORIES: Municipal policy trends and strategies for greening in Europe, Canada and United States (1990-2016)”. This book examines the urban greening policy trajectories of 50 cities in Europe, Canada and the United States over the last 25 years. It identifies the main trends and strategies used and ranks cities along key criteria including the level of rhetoric, focus on health, and equitable access. Providing a clearer picture of processes like gentrification, the research aims to inform a new direction for urban sustainability, in which social and racial equity are placed at the center of planning to produce green, healthy, and equitable communities.